Dry/Wet compression results

[tay97gst]

So long story short, I bought my project car with no engine in it and bought a built engine off someone from the forums. I've finally installed every mod that I want to so it's time to get ready to get the car tuned and painted. It really only has idle time on it but it's been burning oil every since I got it running, (I know this because the smoke coming out of the exhaust and I have pics of the exhaust ports if you want to know the extent of how much oil its burning, spark plugs are also fouled). To find out what is causing it to burn oil I did a compression test today to see how the rings are.

The Results:For the dry test each cylinder was exactly 180, with throttle WOT, and for the wet each cylinder was exactly 210, with throttle WOT.

Just wondering if these results were enough to confirm that it's the piston rings and enough to warrant getting this fixed. Should I do a test to check the valve seals regardless, (a leak down test I believe)? I'll answer any more questions you guys need to know because I want to make sure the engine is absolutely running right before I take it to the dyno/track.

Spark plugs look like this on every cylinder

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Dry Results

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Wet Results (About half a cap full of oil)

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[1SloEvo]

That's what I would do. If there is oil in the lower parts of the runners getting pushed into the engine, you probably wouldn't see it by just looking in through the throttle body!

 

[Dave4g63]

Ya reckon maybe he could pop the injectors out and look down into the intake runner like that? I know its a small hole but I bet he could see enough of the intake port to see if its got oil in it.

 

[boost97gst]

If its THAT much oil, its going to be caked everywhere from the compressor outlet to the intake runners and everything in between

 

[WES_393]

Its an otc leak down tester so its a pretty good quality piece. Instead of the second gauge reading the actual percentage of leakage this tester shows you how much psi the cylinder is holding in relation to the amount of pressure being put in. I calculated the percentage afterward. You can see how it works in the video i posted.

I personally don't like that type of leak down tester. Maybe it's user error, but I always get very optimistic results. I prefer to just pump up the cylinder to X psi, shut off the air, then check the pressure again after a minute or two. A pressure gauge at the compressor is all it takes. If you haven't already, give this article a read.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-engine-fuel/338152-compression-leak-down-testing.html

As for the compression test, it's easy to get skewed results when adding oil for the wet test. With dished pistons, the oil will sit in the dish and effectively raise the compression ratio. Same goes for adding too much oil. Your best bet is using a hose or nozzle to make sure oil is only applied to the cylinder wall. A cap or two is usually enough.

Unfortunately, I'd suspect an issue within the cylinder. All 4 exhaust ports and spark plugs are clearly wet with oil. Unless your somehow getting a considerable amount of oil right into the intake plenum, it's entering the cylinder directly.

 

[tay97gst]

I personally don't like that type of leak down tester. Maybe it's user error, but I always get very optimistic results. I prefer to just pump up the cylinder to X psi, shut off the air, then check the pressure again after a minute or two. A pressure gauge at the compressor is all it takes. If you haven't already, give this article a read.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-engine-fuel/338152-compression-leak-down-testing.html

As for the compression test, it's easy to get skewed results when adding oil for the wet test. With dished pistons, the oil will sit in the dish and effectively raise the compression ratio. Same goes for adding too much oil. Your best bet is using a hose or nozzle to make sure oil is only applied to the cylinder wall. A cap or two is usually enough.

Unfortunately, I'd suspect an issue within the cylinder. All 4 exhaust ports and spark plugs are clearly wet with oil. Unless your somehow getting a considerable amount of oil right into the intake plenum, it's entering the cylinder directly.

Thanks for commenting Wes. So with the leak down tester are you saying I should just skip the tester itself and plug the spark plug adapter fitting directly into my compressor and see how long it takes for the pressure to leak down on the compressor? I'm still going to rip stuff apart today to see if I can rule anything out. I'm just trying to understand the likelihood of all 4 cylinders going bad for me when they were fine with the previous owner. The only thing that changed between mine and his setup is the turbo setup, which I will admit I tried to rebuild myself. I just dont see how the turbo could be causing this if the piping isn't full of oil. But like I said, Im going to rip stuff apart today and see what I can find. I might also just have Justin rebuild the turbo to rule that out.

 

[tay97gst]

So I'm still out in the garage just about to start digging into stuff but I started with emptying my catch can. This is what the contents look like, its a clear-yellowish liquid that doesnt reek of gas but has a mostly gas smell to it. Is this normal or does this indicate anything?

Oh yeah, also, I went out and did the leak down test on my eclipse with 130k the exact same way as I did with the talon. I got the results you would expect with an engine of this age which was like 6-9% so I honestly think I was doing the test correctly.

To anyone else reading this, is it possible that this could be caused by not having a PCV? I'm tempted to swap on a stock valve cover with a PCV to see if maybe this whole catch can setup is causing issues. Or could it be because the catch can has no vacuum being tied into it? I'd love to get a calan can but for 200$ I'd want it to fix the issue so it's not something I want to get unless that could be the problem.

Edit: Just got back in from checking the piping. The intake and intecooler piping at both the throttle body and turbo look brand new on the inside, not a drop of oil.

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[boost97gst]

So... do you have a catch can where the IM is plugged(for the pcv-vc line), the back line instead goes to the catch can and the side vc hose goes as well? This has maybe one of those little breather filters on top? Im just trying to pic what you have.
I could guess maybe thats condensation mixed with some blow by. Not much though as its not oil colored and nasty. From the look of it you have low cc pressure. Now we have to remember you havent had 100s of miles on it and not that much boost so that may not be the best "bellweather" to determine the condition of the cc pressures.

Second: yes, you do need to seal the catch can and run a line preturbo so it has vac on it. You want neg pressure pulling on the crank case gases just like normal. Thats anecdotal, only what ive read from other experienced members. They always suggest it have vac source connected to the catch can.


concerning your leakdowns: The other car is in excellent shape as well. Anything under 10% is really really good. Just as long as you're letting it sit under pressure long enough then the test is being done correctly.